Family Secrets
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: Charlotte has thought Texas was her home her whole life, and has enjoyed the life of a figure skater until an incident at the Regional Championships changed her entire life. How can she deal with this, with finding out she isn't who she thought she was and can her big bro help her cope? Rating upped for content in Chapter 4
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers

A/N: this is a sequel to Wolf Ranger along with Hope and Family

* * *

 _ **Family Secrets**_

The arena was unusually packed for a regional championship competition and Charlotte Winters was nervous as she had ever remembered being going out for the short program. She knew that she couldn't win the competition in the short program but she had been taught from an early age that she could definitely lose the competition in the short program if she botched enough of her moves that would cost her enough points that there was no hope of making up enough points in the long program to medal or go forward to nationals. She was the reigning state Champion in Texas now she had to prove herself on the regional and national stages to even hope to get to the world and Olympic championships.

The music began and her nerves melted away into the program, every jump, and spin as perfect as it ever was, she knew she could do this and her confidence showed. She got off of the ice and got her marks before an official came with the police.

"Mrs. Winters, I need you and your daughter to come with me," the official said.

"Mom, is something wrong?" Charlotte asked.

"No, sweetheart, everything is fine." Her mother, Nancy said, but Charlotte had a bad feeling that her mother wasn't being honest with her.

They went to the police station and in seconds Charlotte's world was shattered.

"I… I was adopted… but… wait isn't that legal?" she asked in confusion.

"Not the kind of adoption your parents went through, they were deceived by dishonest people and you were kidnapped as an infant from parents who loved you dearly." The social worker explained.

"So what does this mean for me? Do I have to leave my parents?"

"I'm afraid so Charlotte, they essentially helped kidnap you whether they knew it or not." She explained.

"What about the competition, I'm in third going into the long program?" Charlotte was getting more and more upset and if the detective, Katherine Willows, were honest with herself she couldn't blame her.

"Charlie… I'm sorry but you're going to have to withdraw from the competition, and hope your biological family will let you continue to skate."

Charlotte dropped into a chair and began to cry.

* * *

Meanwhile Tommy Oliver was tending to his daughter so Hayley could take a much needed nap when the phone rang. He was confused by the 281 area code but answered anyway.

"Hello, is this Doctor Thomas Oliver?" a woman asked.

"May I ask who this is?" Tommy replied.

"My name is Carol Smoak, I am a social worker for Texas Children and Family Services, and I'm calling on behalf of Charlotte Winters. Dr. Oliver this is a long story, but Charlotte is your half-sister, she was born Hanna Oliver." The woman on the phone stated.

"Half…" Tommy fished for words and came up empty and dropped into a chair. "How is this possible, as far as I know I only have a brother, but then my parents split when I was fairly young, it's not unreasonable to think Dad found someone new, but you would think he would have told me about a sister."

"You would think, but Dr. Oliver neither of her parents is in any state to care for Charlotte which is why I called you. We were hoping you could take custody of your sister as she is currently only sixteen."

Hayley was up from her nap and Tommy had silently put the phone on speaker so Hayley could hear it.

"Hold on I need to check with my wife." Tommy said looking at Hayley his expression grave.

"Take your time, Dr. Oliver this is a huge shock."

Tommy muted the phone and turned to Hayley.

"What can we do, Tommy, she's your sister, she needs a home." Hayley said as she picked up their daughter. "We have plenty of space, take her in."

Tommy unmuted the phone. "We'll take her." He said.

The social worker sounded relieved when he told her he would take his sister in.

"She's family." he said simply.

* * *

Charlotte wasn't sure how to handle finding out that her parents weren't her parents at all. What stung worse was they had found out their adoption was illegal and did nothing about it.

She adjusted herself in her seat for what seemed the tenth time as she waited for her fate to be announced. She knew she would never go back to her 'parents' but where she would go was a mystery, so far it sounded like she was destined to go to San Francisco, California to a half-brother but that wasn't set in stone until he agreed to it.

Her grandparents were understandably infuriated. They had no idea the adoption of their granddaughter was anything but legal. They had come and were begrudgingly allowed to see her.

"Is she going to some orphanage or overcrowded foster home you already said her parents can't care for her." Her maternal grandmother demanded

"She has a place, her brother is taking her." Carrol assured her.

"Can he care for her, how old is he?" her paternal grandmother asked.

"He is a college professor; his wife is an IT expert and small business owner." Carol explained.

"So they are both employed and in a good position to take care of her." Her former maternal grandmother said.

"Yes," Carol smiled "We wouldn't place her with him if we didn't think it was a good environment for her. A colleague in San Francisco is visiting his home first thing in the morning to check the home for her, but considering he has a prior adoption on his record I have no doubt it is a healthy, safe environment for Charlotte. I have spoken with the caseworker that will take over her care when she gets to California, she handled the adoption she has assured me that Thomas Oliver, her brother, is a kind person, and he'll take really good care of her."

 **To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Charlotte could barely make herself eat breakfast that morning, she still didn't know if she was going to live with her brother or not. Carol arrived soon after breakfast with the news, her things had been packed and she was to make her final preparations to go to San Francisco.

"So I'm moving away." She inferred "Can I at least call my friends and tell them what is going on so they won't get worried about me when I'm not in school anymore?" she asked.

"Of course," Carol said, "our flight isn't for a few more hours"

They arrived at Hobby Airport and Charlotte started making phone calls to her closest friends to give them the news.

"Wow… wait what… this sounds like something out of a _Novela_." Her best friend Yolanda said. "So you're really moving to California?"

"Yes, Yolanda… and I'm… I'm really scared… I'm meeting family I never knew I had and I have to live with them..."

"Charlie, it's going to be okay, they're family… I'm sure you'll fit right in."

"But… what if they don't like me… what if I never see you again."

"Charlie you and I both know that won't happen, we have Skype and our phones we will never completely lose each other." Yolanda assured her.

"You don't know that, Yolanda." Charlotte said near tears.

"Charlie you're stressing yourself out over things you don't need to worry about, you'll be fine… do I really need to get Alicia into this call… I will do that you know…" Yolanda threatened good-naturedly

"As much as I don't want to break the bad news to her she deserves to know Yolanda." Charlie sighed

Alicia was dumbfounded when she heard what was going on.

"So you're at the airport now… this… this is the only goodbye we get?" Alicia said "That is so screwed up."

"I know, Alicia." Charlie sighed.

"So what is your brother's name?" Yolanda asked.

"His name is Thomas but apparently among friends and family he goes by 'Tommy'"

"Interesting… can you find out if you can call when you get there so we know you made it safely?" Alicia asked.

Charlotte looked at the escort who had heard the question and nodded in mute confirmation that she could call her friends from California.

"They say I can, and I will…" she wiped at her tears in vain this was hard and she only hoped her brother understood how hard this was.

* * *

The flight to California seemed excruciatingly long and Charlie couldn't wait to get off the flight and meet her brother for the first time she let her friends know she had made it and they sent well wishes to her. She then met with a woman with bright red, almost orange hair who introduced herself as Paige Matthews. Page seemed extremely understanding of her unique situation.

"You… you seem different, like you know how I feel better than Carol did."

"Well… Here's the thing I was actually adopted myself… granted the circumstances behind the adoption were different but I know what it's like to have the news that you were adopted dropped into your lap and suddenly meeting relatives you never knew existed. Up until a couple of years ago I was an only child I had no idea I had three sisters until two of them were dropped in my lap. This isn't going to be an easy transition for you, I'm not going to pretend that it will be, but I know Tommy, he's a very understanding person, selfless almost to a fault and if I had to choose someone I'd want to be related to it would be him. Just give him a chance before you judge him, I think you'll find you really like him."

"I just want to meet him; I don't even know what he looks like." Charlotte pointed out.

"Okay that's an oversight." Paige groaned and pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of a man with dark brown, spiky hair and very expressive chocolate brown eyes. "That's him… this was taken at a dinner party my sister threw… he's kind of a friend of ours… how I managed to keep your case is a shock to even me since I know your brother so well."

"Who is the woman with him?"

"That's his wife, Hayley, she says knowledge is her business, she runs an internet café in town and likes to try and help all her teenage clients in some way so I don't see her coming into your life without doing something spectacular to help you."

"She seems nice." Charlotte commented.

"I know your name is Charlotte but do you have any nicknames you go by."

"Most of my friends call me Charlie."

"Charlie, interesting," Paige said as they got into her green VW Beetle.

Charlotte couldn't begin to imagine the type of home her brother had, San Francisco had a whole different flavor from Houston, and it would take a lot of time to get used to the transition.

Paige knew Charlotte was nervous and in a way wished her sister Phoebe was there to make setting the girl's mind at ease a little easier, being an empath and advice columnist had its perks when it came to comforting people.

They got to the house and Tommy was standing outside waiting for them as Paige had messaged him to let him know when they were on their way. She could see the compassion and worry in his expression, Tommy had expressed how he didn't understand why this had to happen after so many years of Charlotte being happy and healthy with her adoptive family, Paige had explained to him that the fact that the adoption was illegal made the whole thing actually kidnapping and required she be returned no matter how traumatic it was for her but at the same time she understood why he felt this way.

"That's him, isn't it?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, Charlie, that's your brother." Paige replied as she put the car in park and shut the engine off.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Tommy couldn't begin to explain how nervous he was as he waited for Paige to pull into his driveway with Charlotte. He had only seen her in pictures and wanted to know the young woman his sister had grown into, wanted to understand who she was and, more than anything, wanted to show her she was family and make her feel at home in his home.

He heard Paige's Volkswagen arrive before he saw it and sighed to release tension as Paige parked the car and they got out. She was pretty and clearly very athletic by her build but it was clear she was upset and insecure. This didn't surprise him; she had been uprooted from everything she knew and flown hundreds of miles to live with strangers if she wasn't a little unsettled he would be shocked.

"Charlotte, I'm Tommy, welcome to California." He said his voice gentle as he tried to reassure her that she had nothing to worry about in her new home.

"Thanks, and most people call me Charlie." She pointed out.

Paige watched as Tommy spoke with Charlie, trying is best to relate to her situation, while he couldn't do it, it was clear that the effort was appreciated. Tommy had this charm about him that made him easy to trust for those he reached out to try to protect and that didn't change when he became a werewolf if anything is desire to protect became stronger, a fact that Paige had learned was a normal trait in werewolves as dominant as Tommy, who ranked extremely high in the most dominant werewolves in North America and was easily in the top three most dominant wolves in California. He was actually rumored to be either number one or number two in California which given the number of packs in California, was saying something to be in the top two werewolves there. That was a lot of the reason why he had to go to Washington to learn to control his wolf. The fact that he had one of the Charmed Ones on retainer only made him look more intimidating to the other packs in the area.

The Charmed Ones were arguably some of the most powerful white witches in North America, if not the world. They had learned that White Witches were generally not as powerful as their darker kin due to their not using sacrifices in their magic. It was clear the Charmed Ones line had found a way to gain power without that as a drawback, though how they couldn't explain. Leo explained it that they had higher powers on their side lending them aid as they worked for the greater good which in this case meant limiting exposure to the darker nature of the werewolves as long as they could.

Tommy invited them into the house and they went inside, Paige agreed to stay until Charlie was settled but then she would have to leave to take care of other things.

Hayley greeted them as they entered the house and went into the kitchen her expression filled with sympathy.

"Welcome home, Charlie." She said "I know this doesn't feel like home yet, but… I'm sure it will soon."

"How did you know I like to go by Charlie?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"I know things like that; knowledge is my specialty, just like I knew you were going to need a new coach if you're going to make that Olympic dream of yours a reality." Hayley smirked. "I already have one in line, you'll meet her next week... she's a former champion herself and has coached several champions so you're in good hands."

"Wait… I'm still…" Charlie seemed at a loss for words.

"Of course… that is your dream, we're not heartless we would never rip that away from you." Tommy said reassuringly, in a way it hurt that she would think they would deny her that dream though in a way he could understand where that fear came from. She didn't know him, until less than 24 hours earlier they were perfect strangers to each other, now they were trying to get to know each other as brother and sister. It was understandable that she didn't know what situation she would be walking into.

Paige gave Tommy a glare as if to say he needed to quit hiding his secrets from his sister and tell her he was a werewolf.

Tommy gave a soft sigh as he realized he needed to get this out of the way quickly before the full moon in a few days.

"Charlie, not everyone in this house is as they appear… a lot of people that come through my front door are werewolves." He said.

"Why… why would you have werewolves coming so often?"

"Before I answer you don't have anything against them do you?"

"No, honestly I think they're awesome, why?"

"Because…" Tommy rubbed his neck nervously "I get a lot of werewolves in my home because I'm the local pack alpha."

Charlie looked dumbfounded as she sat at the bar "Wow… so you're a werewolf… that… I don't even know where to begin… first I find out I have a brother I didn't know existed… then… then I find out I'm related to the Alpha of the San Francisco pack."

Tommy felt his nerves ease as he realized she was just dumbfounded and not scared of him.

"I just need a little time to process this." She admitted.

"Hey, it's okay to be overwhelmed; you've had a lot of information thrown at you in a very short time." Tommy said sitting beside her and rubbing slow circles on her back in an effort to reassure her she wasn't alone. "No one is asking you to accept this as if it's normal, give it a few days to sink in. In the meantime let me show you your room… you can customize it however you like… we can even change the wall color if you want."

"Thank you." She said "This is just so crazy, one minute I think I know who I am and the next I'm told everything… my whole life… was a lie." Tears began to well in her eyes "I don't even know where to begin to pick up the pieces from that."

"Charlie, don't worry… you aren't alone… I'll help you figure that out" Tommy reassured her hugging her close "I'm your brother… I'll always be here for you, I promise you that."

Tommy rested his cheek against the top of her head as she began to sob this was all becoming far too much for her to handle.

Hayley got a glass of water and placed it where she could reach it once she calmed down and placed a hand on her shoulder. She honestly couldn't begin to imagine what Charlie was going through, the pain; the fear in her heart had to be overwhelming. To learn that everything she ever knew was wrong and her whole life was basically a lie, it had to hurt and call to question if she could trust anyone to tell her the truth.

Paige felt the same way, she hated that Charlie's life had to be disrupted the way it was but she had to know the truth.

After a while Paige left and Tommy turned his full attention to Charlie, he had noticed Jason enter the room but didn't say a word. Jason had known Charlotte was coming and had a bad feeling from the beginning that the transition wouldn't be easy for either of them. He had just hoped it would be significantly easier than it seemed like it was turning out to be.

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Charlotte was there for nearly 5 days before she decided she was ready to customize her bedroom to fit her taste. In the meantime, she returned to figure skating practice with her new coach Crystal Duncan, a former Olympian who had high hopes for her and her future in the Olympics but also had some concerns about some bad habits she had that she feared would cause her to get hurt. She had also gotten fortunate to have arrived during a school holiday so she didn't have to worry about enrolling in high school right away.

It took a while for Charlie to decide on how she wanted her room to look and even more to convince her that it was feasible to do. In the end she ended up with basic grey walls but her bed was anything but basic. It was a cream colored, ornate loft bed with a simple ladder and horseshoe shaped desk underneath that was sectioned off into three zones, one was a makeup vanity complete with mirror and makeup storage, the middle was a homework desk where her new MacBook pro sat along with a black desk lamp, the third was empty at the moment as it was used for things that needed handwritten or for books, though the outside contained storage bins.

Her bedding was white with silhouetted daisies with mint green centers; the fitted sheet and one pillowcase were the mint green color while the other case had the flowers on it like the quilt. Her chair was cream colored with wheels, but other than that it looked more like a chair you would get in a dining room set. There was room to walk between the side of the bed and the wall and that area had storage for her things so only the head of the bed touched a wall.

Over the computer desk one could see pictures of her old friends along with space for pictures of new friends on the wall. Nearby on that wall was a chest of drawers she put clothes she didn't put in the closet. Her closet faced the bed and on the opposite side of the bed from the pictures there was a white plush rug with a low table and some grey beanbag chairs forming a sitting area for her and friends to hang out.

She was sitting in bed reading a book that Sunday evening when Tommy peeked in to check on her.

"I see you like your new room." He said.

"Yeah, I've always wanted a loft bed… I just never could get one, until now." She smiled.

"Don't stay up too late don't forget you start school tomorrow." He reminded her.

"I know." She sighed as he started to leave "Tommy…"

"Yes…" he turned back around to face her.

"Thank you… for everything you've done… this… it feels like home… I never thought it would but it really does." She admitted.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Charlie." He smiled.

"Can you put this on my desk… the empty section? I think I'm going to turn in early." She asked handing down her book.

"Sure… no problem," He took the book, took a casual look at the cover to see it was Divergent before placing it where she had asked.

"Good night." He said as he started out the door.

"Good night" she replied reaching to shut off her light. When they put in the loft bed they decided to put in 3-way switches so the lights could be turned on and off either from by the bedroom door or from a perch on the bed so she didn't have to fumble around in the dark to get back up to her bed, get down in the morning or should she have to go to the bathroom during the night.

Tommy watched as the lights shut off, he knew the transition for Charlotte wasn't easy but she seemed to be handling things really well, almost too well.

* * *

School didn't seem to be a big deal for Charlie, she caught up with her classmates and before he knew it she was beginning to make new friends though there was someone in that group that just rubbed him the wrong way. It was a boy she had been friends with for a while and began to date; he was jealous and possessive of Charlie which raised red flags. Tommy noticed the same teenage boy was at every one of her practices and seemed angry when he couldn't attend closed practices.

It was only when the bruises started to appear about a month into the relationship did he really start to worry that her boyfriend was getting abusive of her and stepped in. He forbid Richard entering his home and implored Charlie to quit seeing her but at this point he wasn't sure enough to ban her seeing him all together.

* * *

Amanda McGinnis was Charlie's best friend and Tommy knew if anyone had any answers about what was going on between Charlie and her boyfriend, Richard, she would. He saw her as she entered the house and asked her what was going on between Richard and Charlie. Amanda was a petite, short haired brunette with an oval shaped face and green eyes. She always seemed very respectful of him and his wife and got along well with Charlie and members of the pack that happened to be in his house when she was there.

"Dr. Oliver I'm going to be honest I really don't understand what is going on with Richard… he is really acting strange about Charlie, he hates when she hangs out with me and… to be honest I think she's scared of him." Amanda admitted and it was clear she was very concerned about Charlie. "I'm worried about her; I think he's physically hurting her."

Tommy gave a harsh sigh.

"I wish I knew what he was doing to her."

"We all do, Dr. Oliver… she's changed… and not in a good way." Amanda sighed.

Amanda stayed with Charlie for a few hours then left to go home for dinner. They had gotten some of their project done but there was still more to do.

* * *

Late that night Tommy had a really bad feeling and went to check on Charlie he was shocked to hear her muffled whimpering, and attempting to speak but it was as if she were gagged so it was impossible to tell what she was trying to say. He could smell Richard in there and it was clear he was aroused and she was terrified.

Charlotte had been stunned when Richard snuck into her bedroom about midnight that night, waking her by turning her overhead light on.

"Richard, you know you can't be here, my brother forbade it!" She said clearly unhappy with him.

"I haven't seen you all day… you know better than to avoid me." He said in anger.

"Richard I've been busy… I had tests all day and I have a project to finish with Amanda… you knew this." She shot back.

"Not an excuse… there was time… what about free period?"

"I had to study!" she replied not getting out of her bed.

"Get down here!" he ordered.

"Richard I need to sleep."

"Not until I'm finished." He growled.

She climbed the ladder down from her bed to the floor and was stunned when he grabbed her around the waist as soon as her feet touched the floor and pulled her down onto one of the beanbag chairs. She fought the grasp and was horrified when her hands were pulled behind her back and secured them with what felt like handcuffs.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"It's called getting what is mine." He said before forcing a gag into her mouth effectively cutting off any further objections to his musings before pushing her panties off from under her nightgown and beginning to pinch and play with her clit. The pinches were painful but he refused to stop what he was doing to cater to her comfort this was a punishment for her. Then suddenly a sharp pinch from something metal caused her to cry out in pain.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Tommy heard Charlie cry out in pain and began to try to open the door, but it was locked. He heard her crying in pain and couldn't stand it anymore and shoulder rammed the door, breaking it open.

* * *

Richard was stunned when he heard someone trying to open the door, even more so when the door broke in revealing Charlie's older brother, Tommy.

"If you know what is good for her you will let her go." Tommy warned; his voce not normal by any means, it was gravelly and almost an octave lower than normal. He had seen Richard's hand up his sister's nightgown and the look of pain and fear on her face was more than enough to send him into a protective rage. He had no idea how bad Richard was to Charlie and he had wished he had been able to do more to protect her from him.

Richard felt a sense of dread wash over him as Tommy's wolf stared him down even though he didn't know what he was seeing. He released Charlie stood and put his hands up in surrender. Tommy decided that this time it was best to let the police handle this situation even though he would have liked nothing better than to rip this boy to shreds. He knew that doing that now would only lose what trust Charlie had placed in him. She knew what he was but she was still learning what that meant in reality.

Soon the police arrived and he was arrested for domestic violence and sexual assault. Medics reveal that she cried out in pain because of a tight metal clasp fastened to the very sensitive bundle of nerves at the opening of her vagina.

Tommy had to take a deep breath to keep from killing Richard right then and there. He hugged Charlie in his arms instead, her scent filling his nose and reminding him that, despite the fact that she had been in pain she had no injuries. She clung to him and he let her, this was traumatic in ways he couldn't begin to imagine and he could only hope he could help her.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, I failed to keep you safe and it will never happen again." He whispered into her hair "I promise you that".

"I know, Tommy… thank you" she sighed, tears falling down her cheeks "I… I should have told you about him… about what he was doing to me but I was afraid of him."

"It's okay… it's over now." He assured her gently.

She clung to him and sobbed, relieved that Richard would no longer be a part of her life. The truth was she had been terrified of him after he had made threats to basically put her in intensive care if she broke up with him.

The investigators watched as Tommy soothed his sister, the lead detective Aiden Burn, could tell this was a bitter pill for Tommy to swallow. It was clear he was extremely protective of his sister and all the members of his family so the fact that someone hurt one of his family in his home sit wrong with him.

"If it makes you feel any better, Dr. Oliver, guys like him can be, pardon my language, cunning little bastards, they do everything possible to hide what they're doing and have their victims so terrified of them that they can't say anything for fear of what they will do." Aiden told him. It was clear she knew a lot about people like Charlie's ex-boyfriend.

"I know but…" Tommy trailed, by this time it was only Aiden, Tommy and Charlie in the room.

"You thought your being a werewolf would give you some sort of advantage in realizing your sister had gotten herself an abusive boyfriend. Believe me if it were ever easy to smoke them out we'd find a lot more of them a lot sooner." Aiden sighed her father was a werewolf thus she was allowed to know Tommy was the local pack alpha. "I've got all I need here, Dr. Oliver you and your sister try to get some rest; I'll contact you if I need anything else from her or you."

Aiden left and Tommy turned his attention to Charlie.

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep in here tonight?" he asked.

"I don't know…"

He looked at the window which would need replaced as Richard had broken it to unlock it and let himself in.

"No… you can sleep in another room until we can replace these windows with ones that are harder to break into." He assured her gently and she didn't feel up to arguing with him so she put on her panties and followed him to a room closer to his own. She crawled into bed and was shocked when Tommy didn't leave the room as soon as she was settled into bed.

"Tommy…"

"Go to sleep, I'll be right here until you fall asleep." He said gently as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I'm not going to let you get hurt again."

"Thank you"

"Go to sleep, I'm right here." He pulled the blanket up to tuck her in and placed a kiss on her temple before settling back in his spot to wait.

She gave a weak smile, grateful that he was there for her in that moment.

Tommy watched as Charlie fell asleep, he wasn't going to leave until he knew she had settled down and he figured her being asleep was a good sign of her being calmed down.

Hayley was standing at the door when he went to leave, she had heard everything that had happened to her sister-in-law and was just as horrified as any of them.

"I can't believe anyone would do that to her." Hayley sighed as they got back into their bedroom.

"That boy was bad news; I just wish I had seen it sooner." Tommy said clearly angry with himself. "He abused her and I stood back and did NOTHING!"

Tommy started to punch the wall but decided enough damage had been done to his house for one night.

"Nobody saw this coming, Tommy, none of us realized what he was doing, I hate to say this but he had even me snowed." She admitted.

"I'm replacing all the windows in Charlie's room and I have to repair the door frame where I broke the door down." He sighed as he sat on the bed.

Hayley sat down beside him resting her hands on his shoulder.

"I wish there was more we could do for her, some way we could go back in time and make it so that never happened to her, but we can't." Hayley sighed "We just have to help her cope and realize she can make it through this."

"Yeah… and I'll do everything I can to do just that." Tommy sighed, Hayley noticed that the growl still hadn't completely left his voice as he spoke of what happened to Charlie.

* * *

The next day Tommy noticed Charlie dressing more conservative than she normally did, not that she ever wore anything extremely revealing to school but the long sweatshirt and jeans was by no means normal for her. It was clear the assault from the night before had a negative effect on her.

"Charlie, are you sure you want to go to school?" Tommy asked her gently. He had intended to keep her home after turbulent night she had. He had known she hadn't slept well, he could hear her tossing and turning and smell the fear from the nightmares that wouldn't leave her alone.

"I really don't, but…" She replied.

"I'll call the school and tell them I'm keeping you home after what happened last night, go ahead and get some more sleep, I know you didn't sleep well last night." He said "I won't give them all the details but I can direct them to Detective Burns if they have questions… you shouldn't have to face school after that."

"Okay." She said deciding it was best not to argue with Tommy when he was the way he was at that moment. Also she didn't want to face school after that, she didn't' want to explain why she was dressing the way she was and why her boyfriend wasn't at school.

"Thank you."

"Come here" he said reaching out to embrace her.

She walked over to him and he embraced her "Don't worry about it, I'll always be here for you."

"She hugged him back, she was feeling closer and closer to her brother as time went on, she had spoken with Yolanda and Alicia several times since she arrived in California and Tommy was talking about having them come over during the summer if their parents approved. He knew they meant a lot to her so he wasn't going to deny her time with her friends.

Tommy ended the embrace, placed a soft kiss on her forehead then let her go and she went to her temporary room to get some more sleep.

"Tommy, is it true some bastard broke into the house last night?" Derrick asked after Charlie left the room.

"Not just this house, they got into Charlie's bedroom and…" Tommy trailed off not wanting to admit to his fourth that he had failed to protect his own sister from her abusive boyfriend.

"No, she was assaulted wasn't she?" Derrick was furious.

"I wish I could tell you she wasn't, Derrick, but she was." Tommy sighed.

"Tell me it wasn't that Richard guy." Derrick asked bristling with rage and hoping he was wrong.

"Can't do that either, Derrick…"

Derrick swore in anger as Tommy told him what he felt comfortable telling Derrick about what transpired the night before.

"I can't believe he did that to her." Derrick shook his head "she trusted him and he abused her"

"Neither can I but he's in jail now." Tommy gave a hard sigh.

"Jail is too good for him." Derrick said.

"Not if anyone in that jail learns what he did." Tommy countered.

"That's true." Derrick said "Is there anything I can do to help her?"

"I'll let you know; right now she should be asleep." Tommy sighed. He knew his pack would step up for her, she was his sister and he had noticed that they claimed her as part of the pack soon after she arrived. In her vulnerable state they would circle around her to protect her and love on her until she recovered and beyond. He wasn't going to discourage this, the more of his pack that helped protect her; the safer she was.

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Amanda was confused when Charlie didn't come to school that day. She also noticed that Richard was noticeably absent as well and she got very worried. She called Charlie's phone during free period to find out what was going on.

" _Hello_ _…_ _"_ a male voice answered, it was Charlie's older brother Tommy this made Amanda even more worried.

"Dr. Oliver, where is Charlie… she isn't in school." She asked sounding extremely anxious.

" _She's okay, Amanda, I kept her home today, something big happened last night, come by after school and we'll tell you everything_ _…_ _she_ _…_ _she's going to need you now more than ever."_ Tommy explained.

"I'll have to ask my mom but I don't see any reason I can't be there, and don't worry, she's my best friend I'll always be here for her." Amanda replied.

" _Thanks_ _…_ _"_ he sighed he was genuinely glad that Amanda cared about Charlie as he knew she was going to need good friends to get through what Richard did to her.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Richard is… not that I have any feelings for the bigot I'm just curious." Amanda asked as almost an afterthought.

"That's a part of what we're going to tell you this afternoon." Tommy replied simply.

* * *

Tommy wasn't shocked when Amanda arrived promptly after school; she had seemed very concerned about Charlie. They had become extremely close in the short time Charlie had been in San Francisco.

"Dr. Oliver, is she okay?" she asked.

"She's been a lot better…" he sighed rubbing the back of his neck to dispel energy.

"Amanda…" Charlie hugged her best friend, clearly upset.

"Charlie… what happened?" Amanda asked as she hugged her best friend. She was very confused and concerned and it showed.

"Richard… he… he broke in last night." Charlie said breaking the embrace. She broke down several times in recounting her story to Amanda who was furious when she heard what happened, she held Charlie in her arms.

She made eye contact with Tommy and he could see the rage in her eyes. She was on the same page as him; she believed Richard deserved whatever he got in prison and worse.

"Don't worry, I'm right here." She assured Charlie gently "I'm not going anywhere".

Tommy had informed Charlie privately that the school councilors had expressed concerns about her unique situation and to expect to be called for appointments with them several times a week. She understood everyone was just concerned about her emotional wellbeing.

Amanda stayed the rest of the afternoon but had to leave that evening to go home and get ready for school the next day. Charlie was happy that she had such a good friend but at the same time she was worried how practice would go the next day. She had skipped practice that day and, after all she went through the night before, her coach understood why she opted out.

* * *

She arrived at the rink the next day and changed into a practice outfit and started out on the ice, but even that showed the effects the assault had on her. She wasn't wearing her usual black three quarter sleeved skater dress; she was wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt.

"Charlie, you're safe, no one is going to hurt you here… I know this is never your first choice in a practice outfit."

"I… I just feel more comfortable covered up." She replied.

The coach didn't argue, she understood what happened to Charlie had a profound effect on her and would for weeks to come.

Charlie did well in practice that day, they had begun to work on rehearsals for the upcoming Nationals Qualifier that they had managed to get her into. They were also working on picking songs for Nationals she had given up hope of going to the National Championships that year after she found out about her adoptive parents not legally having any custody of her at all, but this was giving her hope that she could make it all the way.

She had learned that she could get costumes made at a deep discount by someone in the pack who had been a clothing designer for decades and only rather recently turned to the sport of figure skating for an outlet for his work. She would sit down with him once the music was chosen with samples of the music and they would brainstorm costumes to go with each song.

Charlie had costumes for the qualifier, she had decided to used costumes she already had in her wardrobe and start fresh for nationals with new stuff. She didn't have time to commission new stuff for this competition but she didn't care, she was competing that was all that mattered.

For Nationals they settled on a Celtic number for her short program; she had to fight for the Hunger Games Soundtrack medley for the long program but in the end she won out and got the music she wanted. She would sit down the next day with the costume designer for the initial consultation to design the outfits for those routines. For the qualifier she was using the short program she used at state championships the Star Trek intro minus the speech and the long program she had planned on using at regionals an instrumental arrangement of the hit song "Clocks".

* * *

It had taken very little effort to get her surname changed with the United States Olympic committee, and they took care of the international Olympic association's records to make sure her name was correct everywhere.

* * *

The day of the qualifier came and Charlie was extremely nervous, this was her first time competing in Seattle, she was also debuting under her new name but that wasn't why she was nervous. She was nervous because she felt as if she were the underdog in this scenario, the one that had to prove she deserved to be there.

It hadn't been too difficult for Tommy to get consent from Angus to be in his territory for the competition. Angus had confessed that he would never keep even another alpha out of his territory in this particular circumstance given that not only was Tommy her older brother, he was her legal guardian. He had heard Charlie's story and had to admit it was horrific that she had to go through that.

Tommy watched as she fretted with her costume. Tommy stood and cut off her pacing by stepping in front of her and gently grasping her shoulders.

"Charlie, calm down you'll do fine." He told her. "This isn't anything you haven't done a hundred times…forget the circumstances forget the judges… do like you did in practice and you'll do great." He assured her.

She looked into her brother's eyes then looked away as he embraced her.

Warmups were uneventful as ever and the few skaters that knew her in this group were stunned to see her. They welcomed her happily and expressed their excitement that she could still compete after all she went through.

The short started and her Star Trek routine went over as well as ever even with a minor bobble on one of her jumps she still managed to be in fourth after the short program. That was a position she was very comfortable with. The long went even better moving her up from fourth to second qualifying her for the National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah much to her own shock.

"See I told you that you could do it." Tommy said giving her a side-hug as she looked at her silver medal, still in awe that she had made it this far after what she had went through.

"I was just really nervous, the competition was fierce… I'm so excited for nationals" she said her grin wide "This doesn't seem real." She admitted.

"I know… but it is." He said.

They stopped at the dressing room so Charlie could change into street clothes. While he waited Tommy pulled his phone and called Angus for some advice.

 **To Be Continued…**


	7. Chapter 7

"Hello, Angus, this is Tommy…"

" _Hi, Tommy, how can I help you?_ " Angus asked.

"I'm looking for a good place to have a celebratory dinner… Charlie won silver in her competition and I thought it would be good to go someplace nice."

" _I often recommend a BBQ restaurant to werewolves traveling through here but I think this calls for something a little more special."_ Angus replied a smile evident in his voice

Angus ended up directing them to a small family owned restaurant serving fresh seafood. Charlie was wearing street clothes but still had her hair up and her silver medal around her neck.

The wait staff was extremely friendly and Tommy found that he enjoyed the meal as much as Charlie did.

They went to the hotel after dinner and Tommy couldn't help watch as Charlie took her hair down. She had been lucky that a hairstylist associated with the Emerald City pack volunteered to fix her hair for the competition or she would have had to do it herself meaning the styles would have been a lot more basic than they were. They also got the help of a makeup artist that was tied to the pack, meaning she looked nice for this. He would have to check within his own pack and take someone with them to help with nationals, but that was a few weeks out, they had time before they really had to worry about that.

He noticed that Charlie slept peacefully that night, unlike what had happened the night before. He figured the nights during the Nationals in Salt Lake City would be the same way. She would be excited and nervous and would find it nearly impossible to sleep.

He knew the feeling all too well, he had those jitters before a many a karatetournament growing up. The exhilaration of being in the competition and the nervous desire to win, to be the best there but for Charlie the tension lasted longer because, while his tournaments were usually single day events her competitions were often split over two days. Olympics would be a whole different kind of stressful as the short and long program could be split with several days in between them.

* * *

They returned to San Francisco the next morning and the pack welcomed her like a champion, but all too quickly it was back to school and business as usual. The competition had been over the weekend so she had actually only missed one day of class but that was given a proper reason and the school district didn't hold it against her as they had known from the moment she enrolled she was a figure skater and might compete out of state or even in other countries. She caught up quickly and it was like nothing had happened. Tommy had been considering online high school for her but so far he wasn't convinced that was best for her. Though if she had to miss a lot of days because she was in other states/countries he was more willing to consider the idea.

Charlie's weeks were filled with practice and counselor visits among other things. The competition routines were ready in record time as were her costumes but there were tensions among the pack that something bad was going to happen in this competition. She still had a lot of bad habits on the ice that she had yet to fix completely and given that nationals were televised they feared she would fall back into her bad habits.

Her coach, Crystal, had been drilling her trying to break a habit that had her terrified that it was only a matter of time before things went bad for Charlie. She seemed to be getting past the issue that plagued her but Crystal still feared it would show up in front of the cameras.

Tommy contacted the alpha of the Salt Lake City pack, Terrance McGill to request entry into his territory for the competition.

"You're more than welcome to come for the duration of the National Championships, thought this really wasn't necessary, the rink and nearby hotels are in neutral territory." Terrance explained "Though with you being an alpha I kind of like it that you contacted me and let me know you will be in the area in case you did end up in my territory."

"No problem," Tommy said honestly

* * *

The day of Nationals came and Charlie was extremely nervous. This was her first televised competition, she had recently moved up to the level where the large competitions such as nationals and worlds were televised.

She had people with them to do her hair and makeup and Tommy was glad they were able to come do this for her.

The short program went well putting her comfortably in third place going into the long program. The song was an instrumental Celtic piece that seemed to go over well with audiences and judges. The nervous habit didn't seem to show up in her short program and Tommy was hoping that she had finally broken that habit and the fear of her getting hurt during this competition was unfounded.

* * *

The long program wasn't until the next day so she had time to go over her routine a few more times before she had to perform it for judges and on camera for all to see.

They went back to the hotel and Charlie hit the shower. Tommy called home to check on Hayley and Samantha.

"How is she doing?" Hayley asked.

"She's currently in third place but I think the cameras are making her nervous more than we first expected." Tommy sighed.

"I saw… we've been watching on television, she's doing good but… but Jason, Kai and Derrick are still really worried about her." Hayley admitted "We're doing well, here Tommy, just take care of Charlie."

"I will, Hayley, I love you."

"Love you, too, Tommy."

Charlie was just getting out of her shower as Tommy got off of the phone. He liked seeing her without the thick makeup she had to wear on the ice with the cameras and lights going, natural was best and from a distance the makeup did look natural but up close it looked almost like clown makeup and he didn't like it.

She sat beside Tommy on one of the two beds in their hotel room.

"You did great today," he told her with a smile. He knew she was her own worst critic so he tried to reassure her that she was doing good.

"I could have done better." She countered clearly frustrated with herself "That double axel could have been landed better, I under rotated and got penalized for finishing the rotation on the ice."

"You're in third place, one good performance and you have it in the bag." Tommy said giving her a side-hug.

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"That's true." She sighed "I just wish I could have done better."

"Hey you will, just give it time, you're doing great… I couldn't be more proud of you." He smiled hugging her tight.

"You are… you're really proud of me?"

"Yes, extremely proud of you." He said and watched as a wide grin spread across her face. He had learned early on that the best thing for her to hear was that he was proud of her and loved her.

"Let's eat and get some sleep, tomorrow is a busy day." He told her.

"Okay."

* * *

The next day brought more nerves for Charlie and Tommy. They got to the rink a bit early to get ready for the competition. She got changed into her flame themed costume and put an old t-shirt on over it to cover herself until time to compete. She was extremely nervous and her shaky hands showed it.

"Calm down, Charlie, you'll do great" Tommy assured her.

Hair and makeup took a couple of hours but soon she was ready and all she had to do was wait for her turn on the ice.

Her warmup went well but he saw some hints of the habits that scared everyone peeking through. They would have to work on that when they got back to San Francisco but now there was little he or Crystal could do except bring the error to her attention and hope she could fix it.

Charlie was extremely nervous as she made rounds of the ice waiting for the ice to be cleared for her long program. The girl before her was good but she had fallen leaving the door open for her this also made her nervous as she was aware of the mistakes she was making in warmups. She would try to fix them but she wasn't sure she could.

She was cleared and took her opening pose. The Hunger Games medley had been a good choice for the crowd but she wondered about the judges.

Each of Charlie's elements went well and the announcers were quick to point that out to the television crowd. She went for a triple flip, triple flip combination but that was when things went wrong. She landed the first triple flip wrong, she heard a sudden popping sound in her knee and a sudden pain rippled out from the joint. She fell to the ice and curled up in the fetal position in pain.

The crowd gasped when Charlie went down and couldn't get back up.

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: the Commentator Robert Hamell is based on/inspired by Olympic Champion and long-time American figure skating commentator Scott Hamilton.

* * *

Hayley gasped in horror as she watched Charlie fall and not get back up. Everyone that knew her recently had feared this would happen after what her coach had said about her habits of rushing jumps when she was nervous but they had all hoped it wouldn't happen.

"Charlotte is down… and… and she isn't getting back up… I… I think she's hurt." The flustered announcer Robert Hamell said, "This is something nobody ever wants to see, Charlie was on a meteoric rise, doing _so_ well…"

They went back to the replay as medics on the scene evaluated exactly why Charlie didn't get back up. She hadn't even attempted to return to her skates after the fall which made it clear she knew that doing so wasn't possible.

* * *

"If you watch right here… she was rushing to get into this double triple flip and didn't get the proper height or rotation… her blade dug in and her knee took the brunt of it and... and most likely the joint just couldn't take the twisting force."

Tommy was pacing like a caged animal as medics looked Charlie over. This was the last thing he ever wanted to see for her. It was clear even from where he stood on the other side of the rink she was in pain, her knee was damaged and her season, if not career was likely over, he was just praying it wasn't the latter.

Terrance moved quietly through the rink making sure the pack magic made him hard to notice by the humans who were more concerned with the injured teen to pay too much attention to him especially with him cloaked in the look-not-at-me spell that werewolves often used.

"Thomas… calm yourself down." He said his tone just short of an order. "You are no good to her with your wolf this close to the surface."

Tommy scrubbed his face with his hands to dispel energy as the power of what Terrance was doing washed over him.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"Comfort and support her… let her know you're here." Terrance supplied "If it helps any one of the medics out there is one of mine, he's one of the best I've seen short of Samuel Cornick… he'll take good care of her."

"Thanks… could you just hang around for a little while… at least until I know I've got myself under control?" Tommy asked the older alpha.

"I'll be right here if you need me." Terrance assured him as Charlie was taken off the ice on a stretcher to be taken to a local hospital.

Tommy packed her things and went to join her to see what the doctors had found.

Terrance followed knowing that Tommy wasn't in a position where he trusted himself yet and he understood why. Charlotte was his sister, she had come to him needing him to reassure her that he loved her, that he wouldn't lie to her the way the people she thought were her parents were. He knew what had happened with Charlotte there wasn't an alpha in North America that didn't have some idea about Charlotte's story only they might still know her under her birth name, Hannah. They had heard about the infant relative of the Marrok that was kidnapped from her car seat and saw the pictures of her as an infant and the age progressed one that Charles had gotten created through his ties with the FBI. That one had been remarkably accurate but then modern age progressed pictures tended to be extremely accurate.

Tommy was pacing the waiting room, Terrance sitting nearby, they were firmly in Terrance's territory but Terrance didn't mind, Charlotte needed medical care and he would see that she got the best care his city had to offer no matter where that was.

Tommy looked up as the doctor entered the waiting room; he was rather young looking but given the fact that Tommy knew werewolves that were well over a century old but looked like they were barely old enough to drink alcohol,he wasn't willing to cast stones at apparent age.

"Hello I'm Doctor Jesse Travis, I'm the doctor that initially handled your sister's case and at this point we are still running test but the preliminary results say she tore her anterior cruciate ligament more commonly referred to as the ACL." He paused and started into an explanation as to what that was but Tommy cut him off.

"No offence Dr. Travis but I'm familiar with that ligament, I sprained mine in a karate tournament at thirteen." Tommy said politely.

"Okay then you should be aware your sister is in for hours of reconstructive surgery and probably months of physical therapy. Her season is over but I have no doubt she can make a full recovery and be back on the ice next year." Jesse said.

"I know, I just want to get her back home to San Francisco to start the process of getting her treated and through the recovery. I can take her home, right?"

"Of course, you'll need to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon when you get home to get an evaluation and schedule her surgery but I see no reason she can't have the procedure done there." Jesse said, "If anything it'll probably be easier on her to be able to undergo the procedure there and go home to recover in familiar surroundings afterwards."

The hospital fitted Charlie with a device that kept her knee from bending and released her to leave. She and Tommy went to the hotel and began to pack to go home. They were shocked when the desk clerk told them that someone had sent her a gift of flowers and a teddy bear along with a get well soon card.

Tommy had agreed to allow the commentators to keep the home audiences up to date on what was found out about Charlie's condition which meant that she got a quick outpouring of support on social media after it was learned she had a season ending knee injury. She and a lot of others were very glad that it wasn't career ending.

* * *

Hayley was ready for them when they arrived home late that evening; she knew Charlie was in pain from her knee so she made things as easy for Charlie as she could.

They ate dinner and went to bed though Charlie didn't sleep well due to the pain from her newly injured knee and the difficulties of getting comfortable when she couldn't bend her leg.

* * *

Amanda came over the next day to see Charlie; she had been watching the broadcast and was glued to the television after Charlie fell to find out any shred of information about her friend's condition she could.

"So when are you seeing the surgeon?" Amanda asked.

"In a couple of days, he'll be evaluating the condition of my knee and will judge from there when to schedule the surgery to reconstruct my ACL." Charlie replied "I'm really not looking forward to this, Amanda; I've never had surgery before."

"I haven't either but I've heard it's not too bad, they wheel you into the operating room and give you medication that puts you into a deep sleep, the next thing you know you're in a recovery room." Amanda said.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Charlie sighed.

"It isn't… I remember when I had my appendix taken out it was like one minute they were asking me to count backwards to myself from one hundred, I think I made it to ninety-two before the anesthesia kicked in and woke up in the recovery room." Tommy said from the doorway. "The anticipation is worse than what you actually experience and depending on the procedure sometimes the initial few recovery days are less than pleasant but they'll give you medication to help with that."

Charlie seemed to ease at hearing her older brother's experience with surgery, it all seemed like something she could handle without too much problem.

With some convincing she managed to get Tommy to let her go to school the next day even though it was clear she hadn't slept that well again. Tommy was getting concerned and had begun to look for ways to help her find a comfortable position to sleep in with her immobile leg because her lack of restful sleep was not good for her.

Tommy checked Charlie out of school a little early so she could get to the doctor at the University of California San Francisco Sports Medicine Center on time, really they were early but given the paperwork he had to fill out he was glad to get there early.

Doctor Sean Kim was prompt after the nurse took Charlie's vitals and notes on her condition.

"Okay, before we start the evaluation do you have any questions for me?" Dr. Kim asked.

"I'm severely allergic to latex is that going to be an issue at all?" Charlie asked.

"Not at all," Dr. Kim assured her "We have procedures in place for patients such as yourself to make sure no harm comes your way. What reactions do you have?"

"I get hives all over my body and… and my throat closes up." Charlie explained nervously but seemed to calm at the feeling of her brother's hand on her shoulder.

Tommy listened to what Dr. Kim had to say and he found he really liked this doctor's bedside manner. He had a way of setting his patients' minds at ease not just with his words but with his mannerisms and Tommy had a good feeling that if Dr. Kim was to become a werewolf he would be an omega though he wasn't the end all expert on omega werewolves having only briefly met one once in his lifetime thus far.

Dr. Kim made sure to put a large note in Charlie's file that she was latex allergic and when she checked into the hospital he would make sure she had an allergy bracelet.

"Dr. Oliver you might want to look into getting her a medical id bracelet for that latex allergy if she is at risk for anaphylaxis." Dr. Kim advised.

"I'll make sure she gets that as soon as possible." Tommy assured him while mentally kicking himself for having not done so sooner. He had known of her allergy but like a fool hadn't thought to get an ID bracelet to warn emergency medical personnel of her condition should it be required. He was only fortunate that she had been conscious after her fall and that the medics at the rink in Salt Lake City didn't use latex anything due to the commonality of latex allergies.

To Be Continued…


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I need to put a disclaimer here for some characters that have appeared in past chapters.

In order of appearance:

Katherine Willows- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Paige Matthews- Charmed

Aiden Burn- CSI: NY

Dr. Jesse Travis- Diagnosis Murder

* * *

The day of Charlie's surgery started early for her as she had to be at the hospital earlier than she normally had to be at school. Tommy let out a long breath as he drove them to the hospital for the surgery, he could tell Charlie was stressed out and was trying his best to put forward a calm front for her. Sure his influence as an alpha werewolf had little to no effect on her but he did his best to keep her calm either way. He had been told in the past that he had a relatable personality and, when in the right state of mind, a calming air about him. Samuel Cornick had pointed out that he had more than a few personality traits in common with omega werewolves though he lacked the ability to disobey more dominant werewolves that denotes an omega from other werewolves.

He hated that Charlie hadn't been able to eat anything that morning as he knew she was hungry and denying her food seemed cruel and went against his very instincts to protect and nurture her, but at the same time he understood why it had to be that way. Charlie was a teenager and she also understood why she couldn't have breakfast that particular morning even though that and a lack of sleep made her a bit crabby.

They checked into the hospital at six thirty am and the process of paperwork and evaluations began. There was a bit of a scare when it became clear that someone didn't get the memo about her severe latex allergy but it was corrected before it lead to a crisis that could have derailed the entire day's plan. From then on a red wrist band denoted only the beginning of the warnings used to prevent further exposure to the substance. There were signs on the door to her hospital room and they were having to take extra time to prepare the operating room to make sure there wasn't a trace of latex in there to put their patient's life in undo risk.

Tommy paced the room as they waited to be taken back, it was clear his nervous tension had his wolf dangerously close to the surface and Charlie wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to help him.

Hayley saw this as well, had seen it from the moment he had gotten home from Salt Lake City and decided to go to the Marrok with her concerns about what was happening in his life and her fear that it might negatively impact the pack.

Bran had eased her mind by reminding her that it was situations like this where a good second and third stepped in to take pressure off the alpha and keep the pack in line until he could do so himself. He also told her the pack might look to her for calm and balance but there was leeway because she was human.

The closer the procedure date got the more it seemed his anxiety wore on the pack. Jason was doing well to pick up the slack but it was clear that Kai was once again buckling under the pressure, Hayley was picking up what slack she could but she wasn't as familiar with pack structure or bonds as she could be. Much to the surprise of many it was Derrick who picked up the slack and carried the weight that Kai couldn't handle. It was when word of this hit that Bran decided it might be best to send Samuel down to help hold the line, the situation wasn't grim enough to need Charles' intervention yet and there was also the helpful fact that Tommy and Samuel were good friends. This meant that it was extremely unlikely that Tommy or his wolf would resent Samuel intervening to aid in keeping the pack in order whereas another might not be so easily welcomed.

* * *

Samuel arrived at the hospital about fifteen minutes after Tommy and Charlie did and after some cajoling was allowed back to stay with them.

They stepped out so he and Tommy could speak and that he could reassure Tommy that while he came as a representative of the Marrok to aid in keeping peace within the Golden Gate pack, he had no desire to take alpha position away from him, he had no desire to be an alpha period.

* * *

Charlie noticed that Tommy seemed calmer when they returned to her room and she could only assume that Samuel was another werewolf and he was the reason for her brother's more relaxed state.

"Hey, I' Samuel, your brother and I became really good friends while he was staying in Pasco, Washington learning how to control his werewolf side and I came today to provide moral support as you go through this procedure." Samuel explained.

"It's good to meet you, Samuel, I'm Charlie, and as I'm sure you already know I'm a figure skating champion."

"Yep, and I watched your televised performance, you have so much potential out there on the ice. You have a gift, I hope you get to pursue it as far as you can."

"Thanks" Charlie smiled.

Samuel had to bite his tongue to keep from telling Charlie that he was her maternal grandfather with several generations between. He knew she was just learning of her family lines and didn't want to overwhelm her with more than she could handle at that point in time, but she would learn eventually of him, his father, brother and her cousin Bronwyn.

Dr. Kim arrived and was hesitant to explain things in front of Samuel until Tommy assured him that Samuel was a family friend and could know what was going on.

He then explained what the plan was for Charlie's procedure and post-operative care though he said that he would go over the post op care again after the surgery was finished in case something changed during the surgery that would require specialized care.

Charlie was wheeled into the operating room and the long wait for her to come out began. Tommy began to pace the floor and Samuel wasn't sure if he should stop him or just let him dispel the energy. He was worried, scared for his sister as she went under the knife for the first time in her life. Tommy had bonded close with his sister in his short time holding custody of her, Samuel figured that this down time would give her and him more time to bond over their shared love of athletic endeavors. Tommy also had workout equipment in the basement meaning some of her rehab could be done in the comfort of her home.

"This is a routine procedure, don't worry I looked into Dr. Kim he's one of the best in the nation, he will take good care of Charlie." Samuel assured him deciding that since he wasn't hurting anything he would let the younger man pace.

"Thanks for looking into him for me; it makes me feel a little more confident trusting her in his hands." Tommy sighed as he dropped into a chair to wait out the surgery.

"I hate this… I hate that she has to go through this, she… she's not even eighteen yet and she already has to have this kind of surgery." Tommy said clearly frustrated that there was nothing he could do to relieve his sister's pain. "I've had surgery but never this one."

"Nobody likes this Tommy but at least we know she's in good hands." Samuel sighed as he gave Tommy's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm not surprised you haven't suffered this injury, it's actually more common in women than men, though I heard it through a good authority that you did sprain your ACL as a teen."

"Yeah, got cocky in my heal kick and in the middle of a big tournament did it wrong and almost tore my right ACL, was out for over a month. I was livid with myself because I knew better." Tommy explained

"It happens, though I hear you learned from it and you're a hell of a fighter now." Samuel smiled. "Just curious, now you can feel free not to answer the question, but where did you get the practical martial arts experience?"

Tommy sighed "This cannot leave this room… these are secrets I've sat on for well over a decade…" he rolled his neck and continued to speak "Have you heard of the power rangers?"

"What's said here stays between you and me and yeah I've heard of them were you…" suddenly Samuel put two and two together "You were a power ranger?"

"Yeah… my first experience was being brainwashed by a dark witch and forced to fight the rangers. My orders were to kill them or die trying I almost succeeded in killing the five before they rescued me from her spell." Tommy leaned his elbows on his knees "I still have my doubts about witches to this day, the Halliwell sisters being the my main exception. First I wore green, then after the green powers were lost I took white beyond that red and after a hiatus of almost a decade I came back into the fold first as a mentor then I donned the black uniform for one last run which also granted me the power to turn invisible at will that I have to this day."

Samuel sat there for a moment in shock.

"Wow… that… I'm in shock… I know it's the truth I can smell a lie from thirty paces but this… this is not what I expected… I kept a watch on the actions of the power rangers since the first reports of them came to my attention." He said scrubbing his face with his hands "That was maybe about a month after the first five were chosen… I remember seeing the green ranger and wondering why he was" Samuel sighed sitting up again "Why he was the way he was… it never crossed my mind you… you were be-spelled… I don't tell many people this but I went through that and… and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. The spell does explain you switching sides though… if you were anything like you are now I can only imagine how much it killed you to know what you did."

"There were days years later it still killed me… it wasn't until I trained up the Dino thunder rangers and adopted Kira that I was finally able to start putting those demons to rest for good." Tommy replied

Samuel asked how that ended up happening and Tommy told him of Kira being his student and learning of her being verbally abused by her mom and of her absentee father. When he got to where the abuse got physical Samuel came to understand why Tommy stepped in for her. He knew Tommy was a compassionate person with a big heart and a bigger desire to protect those he sees needs it and none had needed it more than Kira.

* * *

It seemed like days before Charlie came out of surgery, groggy but otherwise fine. Hey were relieved to learn it was a straight forward procedure and they expected her to make a full recovery.

Charlie gave a weak smile as Tommy squeezed her hand gently. She was tired and hungry and just wanted to get home to her own bed.

"Hey… how are you feeling?" Tommy asked softly.

"Tired… hungry" Charlie cringed at the sound of her own voice.

"It's going to sound like that for a while…" he assured her gently.

"It sucks." She declared "Can I have some water?"

"Sure…"

Tommy held the cup and moved the straw so she could take a few sips of water, after that he put it back on the table.

To Be Continued…


	10. Chapter 10

The doctor came in and informed them that she would be discharged later that evening to go home since there were no complications to her surgery. They were extremely relieved by this bit of news and began to pack things so they would be ready to go when the time came. Charlie had dozed off to take a bit of a nap while they worked on her discharge papers; some of which required Tommy to leave the room. He felt that he might have been worried about leaving her had Samuel not been in there, having a trusted friend present meant he knew his younger sister was safe. He had also learned Samuel's mate, Nicolette had come with him. Tommy had met Nicolette before back in the Tri-Cities but he felt he didn't know her as well as he could have as Samuel and Nicolette moved not too long after their relationship got serious and it became clear their wolves had chosen each other as mates. He had learned she was a navy veteran and was currently a paramedic with Missoula fire rescue where she did her best to hide her werewolf nature from her coworkers for fear she would lose her job if they knew what she was.

After a few hours Tommy was finally cleared to take Charlie home and he couldn't wait to get her out of there and to the safety and comfort of their home.

"Do you want to stop and pick up dinner or see if we can just get something at home?" he asked her.

"If we can afford it let's just get take out." She replied clearly still very tired.

Tommy figured at this point she wasn't too particular about what she ate as long as she ate something. He had checked with her coach and Crystal had said that perhaps during the early stages of recovery they could be more lenient on her diet plan though she advised that they didn't go crazy with that. Before he could figure a place to go Hayley called and told them she had something for them to eat at home and he decided to go with that instead.

* * *

They got home and ate then Charlie went to her temporary bed room and went to sleep. They had set her up there because she couldn't get into her loft bed without the use of her knee she wouldn't be back in her own bed until she could use a ladder which wouldn't be for several weeks. The doctor wasn't too concerned about the fact that she was still tired; he said to let her rest as much as she felt she needed to that particular day as he could also tell she was slightly sleep deprived due to several factors surrounding her knee and worrying about the surgery as she had never had any form of surgery before.

Hayley gave a soft smile as Tommy sat at the kitchen bar his elbows resting on the bar and his head in his hands.

"I can't believe this… today… it's been so stressful." He said his eyes never leaving the bar and with him being an alpha that had a huge impact and Hayley knew that.

"I know, but at least now she can recover and return to her dream of figure skating." She assured him.

"True, without this that would have been a career ending injury." Tommy replied leaning back in a way that he was looking at her and only one elbow remained on the bar, "but this is not going to be an easy time for her, the physical therapy is going to be unpleasant at best."

"True, but she's strong, she can handle it." Hayley assured him.

"I know…" he sighed.

Jason and Samuel entered the room minutes later.

"I take it this whole day has taken a toll on Charlie." Samuel said.

"It has, she was exhausted when we got home. She ate a good meal then went to bed. I'm not going to force her to stay up after all of that." Tommy replied. "It took a toll on us all, Samuel… watching her stress over surgery and knowing there was so little I could say to make her feel better about this situation… it was hard."

"I can't even imagine. It's good that she is resting now, it will help her heal, physical therapy is going to be rough; I'm not going to lie… some of this is going to hurt, especially at first but she is the type of driven personality that will become stronger through it."

"That's what I've heard, I don't like it but she needs it." Tommy sighed.

Jason watched as Tommy and Samuel planned what the next few weeks would look like for Charlie, he was getting to know Samuel and think of him as a friend. He wasn't surprised Tommy and Samuel became friends quickly, they had similar personalities and we're both extremely empathetic and would pay lay down their lives for those they cared for. Samuel was extremely old and was a fountain of wisdom that seemed really open for Tommy to access when he needed it. He was a good mentor figure for Tommy and gave them ties to the Marrok and a way to learn how to be the best alpha he could possibly be from the Marrok himself.

Hayley had been slightly caught off guard when the Marrok began to ask some unusual questions of Tommy. It began to make sense when she learned that Bran was looking for a pack to take his granddaughter when she went off to pastry school. From early on he and Samuel had both had a very good feeling about Tommy and the newly revamped Golden Gate Pack. They felt that a wolf as submissive as SeoHyun, Bran's granddaughter, would do well in this pack where it was clear she would be well cared for and well loved. He had seen first-hand how submissives were treated under Tommy's care compared to

* * *

Time passed and physical therapy proved to be unpleasant at best, but the fact that it could be done, for the most part, at home, made it less of a chore for the family to keep up with. It got easier on her as time went on and Charlie was looking forward to getting back on the ice and achieving her dream of Olympic gold.

Charlie also found this gave her time to really talk with Tommy about the family he grew up with and learn more about him. She felt that she was really growing close to her brother, something that she had really wanted to do. Moving to California had been a jarring experience and having to live with people who were total strangers made it that much more difficult. Now that she had time to talk with Tommy, his wife and get the chance to play with her little niece she was really feeling comfortable and this was her family.

* * *

Therapy went great and Charlotte was looking to the future with enthusiasm.

Tommy had decided in the last few months that Charlie was down with her knee that physical public school was not going to work with her figure skating schedule and it was with a heavy heart he withdrew her from the high school and enrolled her in online public school for the next school year.

Hayley did days-worth of research to find an online school that would work with the rigorous schedule set by figure skating at the level Charlotte was at. Tommy had decided that it was best to leave that in Hayley's capable hands because she had more time to actually spend on looking at the schools, talk to people and find the right school for Charlotte. She stumbled on one quite by accident and soon grew to love this particular school, it was accredited in California which meant that she would get a diploma that would be worth something.

Amanda was sad that Charlotte wouldn't be attending the next year of school with her but at the same time she understood why Tommy made the decision that he did concerning her education. Charlie had a busy schedule and out of state competitions meant missing school at a physical campus, online all they needed was an internet connection and she could participate from anywhere in the country or world.

One night close to school starting Tommy found himself standing in his sister's doorway just watching her sleep. He couldn't believe how fast life could change, how quickly it felt like his sister was finally where she always belonged even though he had known about her for less than one year.

"Sleep well sis, and know I will always be here for you… **always.** " He whispered before easing the door shut and going to his own room to go to bed.

The End.


End file.
